I'm a young American woman in Milan...and you're not. I go to La Scala a lot...and you don't.

Aida: Roberto Alagna Walk-off

October 23, 2008

With news of the short-term transfer of Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder David Beckham to AC Milan in January, we're psyched. Dailymail prepared a tongue-in-cheek guide for Bex, and we're linking it. Definitely -- because they included a gigantic picture of Alagna in front of la Scala when the freshly-terminated tenor returned on December 14, 2007 to snap pictures and sing, 'Addio fiorito asil, di letizia e d'amor,' from Madama Butterfly. OMG I'M HAVING A ~~FLASHBACK~~ can u stand it?

June 13, 2007

Roberto Alagna (pictured above in a photo AP) will chat with his fans -- whatever's left of them -- on June 26 on the awesome Le Monde de la Musique.

Some of our questions:

a/s/l & how much heat r u packing?

Is Angela as mean as everybody says, or is she worse?

Who settled your 5-star hotel bill in Milan after you ran off of Aida, la Scala or yourself?

Did you really allow your career to crash itself into a wall just so you could chat with strangers online?

You used to be the best young tenor around, working at la Scala with Muti and in Berlin with Abbado and at the Covent Garden with Pappano, leaving recordings of great beauty. We used to really look up to you. Look at yourself now. Why, Roberto, why?

Chailly explained that his next opera in Milan should have been Manon Lescaut with, um, Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu.

"The Manon project was linked to Alagna and Gheorghiu's casting, so (General Manager Stéphane) Lissner and I chose another work, Il Trittico. An opera that hasn't been staged here at la Scala in the last 25 years", Chailly said.

Under the comical headline "The Tenor of Heroism", imperiled-kitty-saving Palombi gives the 100th version of what happened that night, and cuts all the conspiracy talk that came from the Alagna camp and that made us laugh so hard:

"There is a story that I'm part of a plot. I'm not."

Earlier, in rehearsal, his long, free-form hair had been tied in a taut, Samurai warrior-like ponytail. After letting it loose, Palombi looks more like a bearded version of a vintage, 1980s Meat Loaf. He gesticulates kinetically as he talks in rapid streams of mostly confident English, his dark, friendly eyes providing an active counterpoint of their own.

Palombi had been engaged as Alagna's "cover" (opera-speak for understudy) in a new production of Aida and was also given two performances to sing later in the run. On the fateful day, Dec. 10, Palombi was first told that he needn't bother being at the opera house that night.

"But at 4:40, the telephone rings again - 'You have to come here in one hour,'" he says.

By 6 p.m., Alagna was still nowhere to be seen, so Palombi started warming up his voice in a dressing room, just in case he had to go on.

Alagna, a cocky Franco-Sicilian tenor with a considerable fan base around the world, prepared to perform. Palombi hung around backstage after Aida started, figuring he could go home once things were well under way.

When Alagna finished his big aria, Celeste Aida, he received polite applause. "Then," Palombi says, "one man shouted 'Bravo.' Oh, my God. After this - something I hope never to hear again in my life."

That something was a barrage of boos and whistles (in Italy, whistling is not a sign of favor). Alagna raised a fist at the audience and headed for the wings.

"I swear, I said, 'No, Roberto, don't do this.'" Palombi acts out a hand pushing him on the shoulder. It was "as if to say, 'It's your turn.' It was, how do you say? Brusque."

As Alagna passed him and headed into the dark backstage, Palombi noticed that the music was continuing out in the house. The character of Amneris, no doubt startled to find herself alone at the start of what was supposed to be a duet, started to sing her next lines.

"I heard a voice say 'Go on,'" Palombi says. And he did, without missing a beat.

Those who, I wonder why, feel like reading the whole puff piece can find it here.

April 06, 2007

Romanian diva Angela Gheorghiu finally speaks (well, almost) about her husband Roberto Alagna’s infamous walk-out from the La Scala production of Aida last December. She doesn’t really defend her husband (as we’ll see), allowing her words to be read between the lines of the Corriere interview. She also starts a catfight with the younger Anna Netrebko. Meee-oww-wr! Claws out, kittens! She also disses Maria Callas, a soprano that was actually slightly more talented than she is, but she doesn’t really seem to care; or we think that she hasn’t really listened to Callas’s recordings all that carefully. The rest of the article was full of *words words words* that didn't really resonate (it's 1:30 am the night before OC hits the Dolomiti early tomorrow morning for Easter holiday what could be more important than that??). So I'll leave you with a trifecta of slightly incendiary quotes:

Gheorghiu on husband Roberto Alagna:

“I have spoken with Franco Zeffirelli about the episode when my husband walked-out off the Aida production at La Scala, and everything is fine. Find me a couple where the husband and wife always think alike. I’m not saying that Roberto has made a mistake. My idea I will keep to myself.”

Gheorghiu on Maria Callas:

“Zeffirelli, who will direct me on April 20 at Opera di Roma in La Traviata, is obsessed with Callas’ ghost. But I have never felt her shadow’s presence. I’ve had two singers set examples for me, and they are Eugenia Moldoveanu and Virginia Zeani. When I sing, I don’t think about any other sopranos. I like to be an original. “

Gheorghiu on Anna Netrebko:

"My husband sang with her, but do you know how many tenors would like to be in my arms? Anna I have heard only in Don Giovanni. She still has something to demonstrate. But anyway, I am more of an expert on tenors.”

March 05, 2007

In today’s Corriere, Alagna shares with the public a few quotable gems during a recent interview regarding his current Manon in Vienna, his three recent cancellations in Italy, and his struggling relationship with Teatro alla Scala. On first read, it comes across as hilarious. On the second read: not so funny.

The article, "Alagna a Star in Vienna; I will Sue La Scala: In Italy, Also Abandoned by Zeffirelli; I Will Block the Aida DVD," begins with some Roman slang:

"In Italy they call him, ‘The Tenor Of The Three Holes.’" [ed: In Roman slang, cancellations & no-shows are regarded as "holes", so he's a tenor "delle tre buche", or "of three holes". All three are alluding to the La Scala Aida, the Opera di Roma La Traviata, and the 57th Sanremo cancellations.]

Alagna begins: “If a colleague cancels an engagement, nothing happens. If I cancel, it’s like an earthquake.” Alagna continues, “They call me and Angela ‘The Bonnie and Clyde of Opera’: Angela didn’t know what it had meant, so I bought the movie for her. She cried. [ed: omg no way] But the truth is that all of the theaters want me. After Milan, I’m a celebrity.”

On his cancellation of Sanremo: “They (The Staatsoper) had given me permission to sing in Sanremo, and I wanted the challenge, I was curious.”

Then Alagna addresses his feelings towards La Scala, and regards the management in a dismissive tone as “Those People”. He feels “betrayed” by Zeffirelli, and continues-on about Zeffirelli's false enthusiasm, saying, “He was crazy with joy. He told me that he had never cast a couple that loves each other in real life, and then he gave me an autographed copy of his book with a dedication that I won’t even begin to describe to you.”

On his flight from the stage at La Scala: “I was abandoned by everybody. After the crowd booed me, I was ready to come back. I would have looked straight at the audience, and I would have asked, ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, shall we go on?’ But my replacement was already there on the stage.”

On the La Scala lawsuit: “La Scala did indeed forbid me to sing via their lawyers. But they unilaterally broke the contract. So I sued.”

On the forthcoming Decca-produced Aida DVD: “I called Decca. I won’t authorize the sale of a DVD of Aida in which you are only able to see the sets, or where the singers are indistinguishable and far away. I’m a producer, too, and I know how to make a good video. I asked that we add to the video -- as special content -- a scene of the crowd booing me. They cannot publish anything without my consent. The people side with me. Do you know how many records I’ve sold in 2006? 970,000! Find me another singer who did that. I’d do it all over again.”

On the police threats from December 10, 2006 when he showed-up at La Scala against their wishes: “Somebody at La Scala spread some gossip. They said I had fled to Paris, but all of that was lies. That’s why I showed up in front of the theater, to counter-act those claims. There were carabinieri [teh Italian police] in front of the theater because they were equating me to the bandit Salvatore Giuliano [the most famous bandit in Italy]. And why do you think everybody was against me? Because I was a whipping boy. Who is the real target, you ask? It’s not me, but really General Manager of La Scala Stéphane Lissner”.

The interviewer then asks Alagna, “So, is it over for you and Milan?" Alagna replies, “I don’t exclude anybody. La Scala is mine. It does not belong to ‘Those People' [addressing La Scala management]. It’s like telling a Christian he can’t go to church anymore. God made me a tenor.”

Alagna regarding the Rome cancellation of La Traviata: “I had to go to Paris for Simon Boccanegra, so I saw the staging of La Travitata. But I didn’t like it, so I cancelled. It was a sort of concerto version. So then I made myself available to Rome for just two nights. And it wasn’t good enough for them. They have the bad habit of announcing the cast even if they don’t have a signed contract with the artists yet. I told them: ‘Guys, I’ll come if I can, with pleasure’. Artistic Director Mauro Trombetta, a delightful person, told me that in Rome, I’d be the new Beniamino Gigli. But I don’t have room in my schedule for now. I have to study four new operas, one of them written by my brothers Davide and Federico. They do everything: they’re sculptors, painters, composers”.

Alanga, after asked when he’d actually be back in Italy, replied, “I’ll be back to Italy in 2008, in Bologna, for Gluck’s Orfeo. And in Italy they offered me the artistic directorship of a theatre, too. I’m relaxed, trust me”.

Produced from a RAI Radio show called Viva Radio 2 Revolution, there was staged a series of six phony phone-calls [fignaz predicts nine total in this post's comments!!] to a fictitious "Casa Alagna". One of the show's personalities pretends to be our very own Tato, and is presented à la Adam Sandler's "Opera Man" from the 1990s SNL (YouTube link) "Weekend Update", singing his responses to the interviewer in a hilarious, operatic tenor.

One of the half-dozen phone calls has made it to YouTube in the form of audio, and can be found below along with Opera Chic's translation. Thanks again to fignaz and Donna Anna for the scoop!

Fiorello: We are going to call the house of Alagna to see if he is there. (phone ringing in background) I think this is the house...let's see if he's here...[blah blah blah nothing important].

Fiorello: Hello?

**The first responder is a bit character, and answers [OC isn't familiar with the format of the show] and they're all like, no way! It can't be so! Omg it's you again?! And then the bit character says he was just joking around, and he'll go find Alagna, to which are the replies from Fiorello stuff like, "Thank god, let's get on with it..."

[Update/note: reader fignaz left a comment elucidating the "bit character", and writes, "The stock character at the beginning is supposed to be the switchboard operator at the Quirinale (the residence of Italy's president, for those who don't know). This is Fiorello & Baldini's running joke on the vagaries of the state-run telecommunications system. Since fake phone calls to celebrities (whom Fiorello imitates) are their stock in trade, they often reach the Quirinale."] [thanks, fignaz!]

Roberto Alagna then gets on the line, and sings his opening greeting, which is met with much laughter from Fiorello, who begins the interview:

Fiorello [gathering strength]: I'll try to go ahead, and do this. [To Alagna]: Maestro! Hello/Good Morning. Listen, can you explain to me what happened? [Referring to the December 10, 2006 Aida walk-off.]

Alagna: Those sh*ts!

Fiorello [to the audience]: All in all, it [the interview] began well, eh?...[To Alagna]: Sorry, but do you always talk like this?!

Alagna: No, only in public.

Fiorello: There we are. Instead, [how do you do it] in private, then?

Alagna: In mezzo soprano.

Fiorello: I get it. Listen, when you go to the super-market, how do you speak?!

Alagna: Normal.

Fiorello: Okay, I get it. But can you give us an example, please?

Alagna then pretends he's at the deli counter in the super-market, and sings instructions for the deli guy to give him "un etto di prosciutto", and goes on to sing instructions, like, "I recommend you to slice it thinly, under the fat, and close to the bone. Y'ah ha ha ha ha!"

Fiorello: Let's see. Why did you leave last night? [speaking again of the La Scala Aida December 10th walk-out].

January 26, 2007

In today's Italian newspapers, Corriere della Sera and Repubblica (how sweet to be able to buy them in New York, too, OC is now addicted!) Riccardo Chailly, conductor of last December's unlucky Aida at La Scala, slams tenor Roberto Alagna. Here are the most damaging quotes:

"Yesterday I watched the Aida DVD that RAI will broadcast and Decca will soon sell in music stores...and it was a luminous, beautiful show, with excellent singers. Alagna also performed convincingly, and he gave life to a convincing Radames. But now he will say that he was right; He will say that he was a perfect Radames. Instead he should thank the sound engineers: because they performed a miracle, working on such little material they had in their hands and fixing all the defects in an astounding manner. Watching the DVD, one sees that it was a good idea. We worked well, and what happened seems even more painful now. He should have gone ahead with the show. It was a matter of respect".

So, no matter what Alagna said last month in one of his more unhinged moments ("Decca said they only make the Aida DVD if I am the protagonist in this production"), the DVD is indeed coming out! w00t!

In an article titled "Broken-hearted tenor to sue opera house", Alagna gives his first explaination of why he left the stage during the December 2006 Teatro alla Scala Aida.

He goes on to say that he is officially suing La Scala for, "failing to help a person in danger", and blames the audiences' boos for the dangerous drop in his blood sugar levels.

Couching his insults in passive-aggressive barbs, he states:

"I could accept being booed if I was singing badly, but not being lynched. That demolishes a singer. It's like a death blow. I adore La Scala, but the result of this behaviour is that first-rate singers no longer perform there."

December 29, 2006

(btw, If you are looking for the BREAKING NEWS that Opera Chic reported from early last evening, where La Scala General Manager Lissner cancelled director Robert Carsen's upcoming production of Lenny's Candide, click here and here.)

The moment has arrived for the final judgment of the penultimate Celeste Aida! The one that would make even Maestro Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi pewp his pants!

In addition to the marvelous comments, Opera Chic had a few thought-provoking write-in ballots that will remain anonymous (as was requested), but I will recap the #1 super awesomeness that converged.

Well, Opera Chic has a dark horse in the running, and has thus chosen the warm and elegant crescendo that emits from Alfredo "Werther" Kraus! His Celeste Aida plucked from the Orfeon Records recording of Alfredo Kraus Sings Operatic Arias I! I LAV EET SO MUCH!

But really, in the humanitarian spirit of the holiday, love thy neighbor/blogger, I declare this contest.......a TIE! EVERYONE WINS! PWN PWN TAKE THAT U NEFARIOUS & INADEQUATE TENORS!

Therefore, in the next half-hour (coda: unless there is more breaking news from La Scala), I will email everyone who participated in the contest with a super h0t, super exclusive, half-nekkid picture of Bolle (preview: LO-OK left). It may even melt your inbox (if you know what i'm sayin).

In the meantime, please enjoy the more tepid images of Bolle above and below, and thanks again to Crew Mantle for suggesting to me this competition. Truly, this was a contest worthy of kings.

December 24, 2006

One of my most favorite "internets colleagues" that I've had the pleasure to acquaint with via the "Alagna Incident", gentilissimo Crew Mantle (hay HAY hay), suggested that to cleanse the Celeste Aida "ear-worm" of late from our collective heads, a bit of a contest is in perfect order.

Therefore, Opera Chic is very curious to hear about your favorite Radames tenor in his best performance singing Celeste Aida.I personally plan on scouring YouTube in the next few days to gather some of the gems. So, if you find yourself with some extra time over this long holiday spell, let's see what you've got in your cache! Either plop the YouTube linkage into the comments of this post, or send me an email and I'll post a thread just after Christmas to recap and declair a WINNER! +20 POWER UP UR LEVELS AND WIN THE GAME!

To wit, LET THE CONTEST BEGIN!

btw, the winner gets a high-res digital portrait of Roberto Bolle, certain to satisfy the pickiest of both boys and girls...

Also, another dear reader took my annoyance of the cranky lawyer that blocked my view from the palco during Friday night's Aida to another level: OMG THE TOURIST GUY WAS AT LA SCALA!?vvvvvvv

Remember: WARNING #1: For Celeste Aida, Opera Chic was (comfortably) crammed into a palco box with three complete strangers, and she therefore had to be super-discreet about filming, in order to supersede the rules to bring her lovely readers such rare footage. Unfortunately for this, Fraccaro's first few (okay, lots of) bars of the aria did not survive my stealth-itude. o--o

Remember: WARNING #2: For Bolle’s Marcia Trionfale, Opera Chic did not unload her 1GB memory card since vacationing in Vienna this Fall, and therefore, her bootleg camera p00ped-out about three-quarters into the dance. Which sucks. A l0t. c*ck c*ck c*ck. But hey, it’s all bootleg anyway, so TAKE WHAT YOU CAN GET, SUCKAS! ^________^

(Act I of Aida, with the shadow a washed-up lawyer that was sitting clumsily to my left, which will now haunt each successive shot from the opera. *.*)

Opera Chic freely admits that December 7th’s La Prima of Aida was just so exciting and stimulating – the marble lobby of La Scala filled with the exotic perfume of six-century-old European dynasties, the damp leather of Regent Street Church's shoes and moist Valentino black mink stoles mixing in an intoxicating scent of old and new money – that it was almost impossible to distinguish and segregate the subtleties of the actual opera from the illusion of such an evening. For this reason, I am happy that last night, I was able to revisit and revise my initial impressions of the Zeffirelli/Chailly Aida that is currently showing at Teatro alla Scala.

Minus the insane queue to get into the theater, the red carpet, the drizzle, the press, the photographers, the police, the blockade of black Mercedes and surly bodyguards/drivers, the omnipresent maze of iron stanchions, the protestors in Piazza della Scala, and the gawkers, last night’s Aida was still pretty kewl.

This performance was attended by a crowd of fairly equal Milanese echelon, as in, “I’m so rich that I don’t need to know what money is, or even how it works,” along with the entire Missoni clan, including the gaggle of brunette grandkids. Black is really the ultimate rule for these sorts of events, so I went rather incognito in all-black again: black stockings with Louboutin black stilettos, a Jil Sander black cashmere shell dress (I have the same style in like three colors *sticks out tongue*), an Aspesi black 7/8s feather jacket, and I threw all my crap in a black Prada rectangular theatre clutch. This time, I did indeed bring one of my cameras, and I did indeed use it. At La Prima, there was just no way that a camera would even squeeze into my Nancy Gonzalez clutch, better yet knowing that I would not find the plebian nerve to use it in front of so much beefy security and influence.

Into the fray…

(Act II, with the lawyer head again.)

Chailly again, was scruffy and constantly grinning. On the second listen of Chailly, I found his sound rather muddy, cloudy, and murky, with an overall muted interpretation. It wasn’t necessarily sluggish or lethargic, but it was very opaque. Violeta Urmana’s Aida was rather weak last night. I still enjoyed the soprano, with her capacity to sing such sweet notes and then rip into the audience, but she was a bit underwhelming last night. Ildiko Komlosi as Amneris again, completely stole the show. She sang with such fluidity and emotion.

Last night, Celeste Aida did not get booed, but this Opera Chic was beyond tempted to start mooing her dissaproval, and almost had to clamp her hands over her mouth to quell the urge! Scheduled to sing Ramfis was Orlin Anastassov, but was instead replaced by Giorgio Giuseppini; but who really cares. I mean, honestly, the night was about Celeste Aida and Bolle’s bolle.

(The scene of pre-Bolle appearance, right before the first titanic intermission.)

Again, Frengo managed to pack every single packet of free space on the stage with some sort of golden thing or a chorus/ballet member. It is a true orgy for the eyes. Incense was lit again on stage, and I went home with my hair reeking of sweet smoke, that came out easily with a lathering of kiehl's.

Which brings us to Bolle and his golden thong. I’m sorry, but when you see him on the stage, he is a monster. How did I not report on that before? I think I was more in shock from his bare, tight a$$. Bolle is just a giant. A giant, flesh-colored, beast of a man. Is it because the other ballerinas are so petit? I have no idea, but at any given time, he is just freakishly larger than anyone else dancing on stage. He is impossible to misidentify. Anyway, I have had the pleasure of seeing Bolle recently on the Milan streets (in Corso Garibaldi, he was dressed rather sporty, wearing grandpa-hip black New Balance sneakers, khakis, and a tragically unstylish black pea coat/overcoat), and he doesn't seem as incongruently large as when he is on stage.

(The oasis: Fraccaro and Urmana)

Again, Bolle had a long long long applause for his dance. Alagna wasn’t kidding when he complained that the audience showed more love to Bolle than him, because we did it again. Anyway, we all felt that Bolle was deserving of it, seeing that we stared at his gigantic a$$ for the entire Marcia Trionfale. However, Bolle didn’t grace the stage during the final curtain call as he had for La Prima. Unfortunately. And luckily, Urmana’s heart has turned again to stone, and she didn't cry for the final curtain call.

(The tomb where Fraccaro is doomed to join the company of adequate tenors)

This time around, the opera kind of dragged. Compared to the brilliance and excitement of opening night, the pauses and intermissions were just too omnipresent, and too anchoring. For La Prima, one actually looked forward to the long pauses (two separate five-minute pauses even before the first intermission, then one thirty-minute intermission, followed by a second forty-five minute intermission) so that we could see what celebrities and Milanese society had turned-up for the fashion show. This time, however, the opera didn’t even seem cohesive, more like a bunch of separate scenes woven together. Pretty lame. Muti's whole, "Graham Vick's Macbeth with a cube on stage" started to really make sense.

Okay, the two clips from last night are currently uploading on YouTube, and I will post an update when they are up with the URLs.

WARNING #1: For Celeste Aida, Opera Chic was (comfortably) crammed into a palco box with three complete strangers, and she therefore had to be super-discreet about filming, in order to supersede the rules to bring her lovely readers such rare footage. Unfortunately for this, Fraccaro's first few bars of the aria did not survive my stealth-itude.

WARNING #2: For Bolle’s Marcia Trionfale, Opera Chic did not unload her 1GB memory card since vacationing in Vienna this Fall, and therefore, her bootleg camera p00ped-out about three-quarters into the dance. But hey, it’s all bootleg anyway, so TAKE WHAT YOU CAN GET, SUCKAS!

December 23, 2006

This week's insane social engagements revealed a very dear and generous friend who gifted Opera Chic another ticket to attend tonight's Aida at Teatro alla Scala. Although I had already attended La Prima of Aida just two weeks ago, and was not really in need of a Zeffirelli-fix, I nonetheless graciously accepted the ticket (and no...I *didn't* try to scalp it for 3x the face-value...although for a moment, it was very tempting!).

Earlier tonight, I found myself at the theater snuggly ensconced with three various (but well-dressed) strangers in a palco box overseeing the lavish, claustrophobic Zeffirelli sets, and again, Bolle's glorious, tight a$$ (Opera Chic surreptitiously snuck a video of Bolle's dance to the Marcia Trionfale, which will be uploaded tomorrow with my review).

I am also able to report that Fraccaro, Alagna's Radames replacement, doesn't totally suck. He's not worse than Alagna, but not better. At the very least, his blood sugar seemed to be under control. He wasn't booed, and the loggionisti were polite and reserved (boring). Opera Chic has also (surreptitiously again) filmed Fraccaro’s Celeste Aida aria from tonigh's performance, also to appear on YouTube. Stay close!

December 19, 2006

I promise I will post about Muti’s Don Pasquale later, but first I must report now on two interviews that have been published in today’s Italian press.

First, from La Stampa, “singer” Andrea Bocelli goes on the record, defending Alagna’s actions and calling him a great musician, with the headline, "Andrea Bocelli defends his friend Alanga”. Here Opera Chic translated a few choice quotes.

Question: "Pippo Baudo, who has been your mentor in Sanremo, has invited you to the Sanremo festival again this year."

Bocelli: "No, I won’t go. And anyway, Alagna will be there, and that’s enough [of a star presence for one festival]."

Question: "What do you think of Alagna leaving the stage at La Scala during Aida?"

Bocelli: "I suffer deeply when such things happen. Alagna is right. Singers are not protected anymore. The world that boos them is a very sad world. When an artist has studied, has trained, and has been green-lighted by a conductor like Chailly, they should not be afraid of anything. Maybe Alagna was sick that night. It’s just not civilized behavior to boo. But I don’t know what I would have done had I been in his shoes."

Question: "But is the right thing to do to leave the stage?"

Bocelli: "We all react in our own personal way. To leave may simply mean that you don’t feel like going on anymore. Behind what appears, there is always much more. Alagna is a great singer. In the United States, I have even bought one of his albums. I am quite positive that he did not deserve those boos."

Question:" What about the cancellation of Alagna’s following commitments for Aida?"

Bocelli: "Those cancellations stemmed from purely political issues."

Also in today's Corriere della Sera is a long interview with Franco Zeffirelli, that asks again for the director to speak about Alagna’s behavior the night of his booing at Teatro alla Scala. Here are some quotes:

Zeffirelli says, “Alagna’s coup de théâtre? It has really been a grave folly on his part. He is impossible to defend. It is useless that he blames other situations on his failure. Maria Callas once left Norma because she had a very high fever, and her voice was just not there. But she completed the Act anyway, and loggionisti were screaming things like, ‘You are a hen, and you get paid for it!’”

“Boos belong inherently to the history of musical theater, and almost all singers have been booed at least once. Even Carlo Bergonzi, one of the greatest Radames was booed. Radames is a terrible role, and it’s just not ideal for Alagna, who managed to pulled it off very well regardless. But some sort of dissent must always be accepted. What a shame, really.”

“In April in Rome, I will direct La Traviata with Alagna and his wife Angela. I have always loved them both, even now after everything.”

“In the meantime, Alagna will go to Sanremo where, after his sceneggiata [ed: Zeffirelli uses this word to describe Alagna’s poor actions at La Scala; the Italian word is a very popular, low-brow Neapolitan traditional, sentimental theater for the average working guy] at La Scala, he will really enjoy a triumph. But that is a different profession. If he wants to gain his credibility back in the world of opera, he will have to commit very seriously.”

“La Traviata could be the perfect occasion. I’m thinking of staging a very erotic La Traviata. It will be like the one that Verdi certainly imagined, but was not able to make explicit living in his historical times.”

“Violetta suffers from tuberculosis/consumption, and those who suffer from that sickness are famously over-sexed people. I would like Eros to be palpable on stage, and since I have two very beautiful singers who really love each other in real life, there is no better occasion to do it.”

Oh great. Now that I have washed my hands of the Alagnas, I can't wait for the Rome La Traviata.

December 17, 2006

Well, I recorded the Alagna video clips from the television with a Leica C-LUX, and they are like 600+ MB, so what you see currently on YouTube is a capture of that Leica video, captured playing on an imac with a Sony cameraphone. It's pretty weak...

...but that's about all that the technical department of Opera Chic can manage right now.

I'll update as necesary, but see that some of you have managed to seed the entire interview via hosting services. Sooooo, go for it! brb tia.

VVVVV UPDATE VVVVV

The wonderful La Cieca directed me to this much better version on YouTube. Yay La Cieca saves the day!:

vvv UPDATE vvv

One of our commentators has taken a stab at a partial Sicilian translation of the Donkey Song. A smattering of the lyrics are here as:

My poor donkeyWhat a beautiful voice you hadLike a great tenorMy beloved donkeyHow could I ever forget you?

First Alagna talked about his family, about his life growing-up in a musical environment. He spoke how he first held a guitar at age three. He spoke about his Sicilian side of the family, and was like, “I’m one of you”.

He said, “Being a singer is the most beautiful profession in the world. Fate made me become a singer.”

Then he said, “My debut took place in a pizzeria. I sang cabaret for eight years. And I have been singing opera for twenty.”

Then he spoke about La Scala, the booing, and his premonitions for a bad night:

“As soon as the curtain went up, the booing started. And this is very poor conduct for an audience. My problem is that I suffer from hypoglycemia, and in those moments that I am affected, I lose all my strength. I felt like earth had opened beneath me. The theater should stop the opera at least for five minutes to let me recover. Sometimes audiences can wait as long as one hour and a half for an ailing singer. At La Scala, instead, they bragged that they didn’t even lose one beat!

[…] “I arrived at the theater, two hours before the show was scheduled to begin, and I found one tenor warming-up his voice. And he told me, “They said you would not come tonight, Roberto!” He also told me that a third tenor was arriving at the theater in a cab.”

He then repeated the allegation that he saw people backstage doing the ‘karate-chop’ motions towards him, but this we’ve heard before.

Then they showed a black-white film of Maria Callas leaving the Rome Opera after her famous Norma. That will also be later uploaded.

Then he spoke about Angela and his marriage. They showed a clip of one of his old La Boheme with himself and Angela, and they were eating an ice cream cone together. [Edit: The eating ice-cream scene was actually from Elisir d'amore, but the scene was spliced into the montage directly after a scene from La Boheme, so I missed the transition while balancing screen-shots, filming, and taking notes.] He said how gorgeous she is, as did Pippo. And he said, “Between Angela and I, there is always been electricity. Now we keep on paying the electric bill.” (Bad joke that I don’t really “get”).

Then he went to a grand piano that had been wheeled-in, and started saying that he hasn’t been singing because his heart was broken, and it was the first time something so bad happened to him to make him stop singing.

He started singing then the very ending of aria “Celeste Aida” in a very thin, weak voice.

…and then he sang “The Dead Donkey Song”. Here is the link to the lyrics for his sing, "U sciccareddu" for which, he got a standing ovation from the audience.

He was wearing this horrible black suit with some sort of black, raised pattern swirling all over it. A white dress-shirt, a black faux-crocodile-skin black tie, and an orange scarf. He looked nervous, like he always does; but he was at least wearing some sort of sweat-blotting powder.

Gah. It's over. I am currently processing/downloading the film, and I will start right now on uploading screen-shots.

Please allow Opera Chic a well-deserved intervallo of gloating for announcing her world-exclusive tip almost two days ago, that allowed me to scoop actual, real-live, breathing journalistic institutions.

Alagna is scheduled to appear around 6:00 pm Italian time (GMT +1), so it will be 12:00 pm noon in New York City.

According to the schedule of Domenica In, Alagna will be interviewed. He will be asked to explain the events of the Aida La Prima at Teatro alla Scala, to retell his life as a great international artist, and then he will sing a few arias and famous songs.

Alagna will be interviewed by Pippo Baudo, who is the ex-husband of Katia Ricciarelli. He is also the man who, in 1987, beat-up a loggionista outside of Teatro alla Scala in a fist-fight, after his wife Ricciarelli’s Luisa Miller was relentlessly booed by the loggionisti while screamed to the audience, “May God’s curse strike you all!”

Best from Milan, Opera Chic

p.s. At this point I’m pretty sure I’m the kewlest lady in the entire blogsphere, to be perfectly honest. My scooping prowess, much like my power level, is off the charts! ;p

December 16, 2006

Alagna can’t keep his mouth shut! Even if his lawyer has explained that Alagna will appear tomorrow in an afternoon television talk show here in Italy (as he told Opera Chic in an interview below), the tenor has nonetheless spoken again to another Italian newspaper. Today’s Il Giorno carries a two-page spread on tenor Roberto Alagna. The headline is a direct quote of his stating, “I left La Scala, not Milano.”

In the interview, Alagna explains that he finally woke-up in a good mood after having experienced four very terrible days

Roberto says, “I have not sung since Sunday night, and something like this has never happened to me before to go so many days without singing. My heart was broken, and when your heart is broken, you are just not inspired to do anything. You have to put the pieces back together.”

“In front of La Scala on Thursday night, my fans asked me to sing. And so I sang for them a Puccini aria, just for my fans. The flame of song has been re-kindled.”

And then the tenor seems goes on in a bragging swagger, explaining that he saw police standing in front of the theater on Thursday night. [Ed: Okay Roberto, protocol may have changed since you've been here last, but for every single performance at the teater, from the lamest opera to the most star-studded event, has a barrage of at least a dozen cops standing directly in front of the main doors before the performance starts. Also, Thursday was a particular day, as there was a gigantic demonstration in Piazza della Scala, so there were just more cops out than normal anyway. Tone down the cockiness tia!]

Roberto says, “Didn’t you see all of those police men parading in front of the entrance? They were there to prevent me from entering the theater. Have you ever seen anything like that? I never thought of crashing and entering the theater anyway. I just went to Piazza della Scala to do what I thought was right. I went there to give an explanation to that group of the Milan audience that I love, and who never disrespected me…I love this city.”

The event of the article is that at 8:00 pm tonight , Bolle will debut at Teatro alla Scala in Rudolf Nureyev’s choreography of Tchaikovsky’s "The Nutcracker" (Lo schiaccianoci), playing both Drosselmeyer and the Prince. Opera Chic will not be able to see Bolle in his premiere, but instead will be in Parma tonight to listen to Maestro Esa-Pekka Salonen conduct Philharmonia. Opera Chic is already running late, so here are just a few quotes from the article:

Roberto on his performance tonight, “I will arrive on stage wearing an overcoat, a wig, shoes, pants, and with an eye patch. Nobody will recognize me until the end of Act I. Everybody will be like, ‘Where’s Bolle? I don’t know, maybe he will arrive later.’ The role of the mysterious Drosselmeyer, that I play at the beginning, is certainly the most interesting of the two. Then I also play the Prince, who is a concentration of sunny beauty and physical power. Two roles that are both difficult, and very complicated. In the Nureyev style.”

Roberto on his new fame, and performance in Aida, “The context of Aida justifies my costume there. Our art is very physical; today they compare me to Michelangelo’s David. Many discovered me at Aida. But it’s as if I’d never done anything before Aida!

Roberto on booing, “How would I react if the crowd booed me? It has never happened to me! In my shows, there’s an unusual amount of cheering for ballets’ standards. Two years ago, in Florence, for a performance of "The Nutcracker", during the final applause, the audience started lighting their cigarette lighters, like people do a the soccer stadiums! But if anyone booed me, I would never leave the stage. An artist must be a professional, and stay aware of his own role. I am appalled at Alagna’s coup de théâtre. I really don’t think it will help him in the end”

Roberto on an American debut, “I will try to conquer America, dancing at the NYC MET Opera House with the American Ballet and Ferri in Manon.”

Roberto on his personal life, “I’m not planning an engagement, nor planning a wedding. I only have few good friends.”

Some good news for all my tri-state, NYC readers! Are you ready for Bolle?

IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR BREAKING ALAGNA NEWS, THE LATEST UPDATE CAN BE FOUND HERE.

Thursday, December 14, 2006 was another moment of reckoning for the La Scala management during the ensuing hilarity that Roberto Alagna had created, as the replacement tenor Walter Fraccaro was rotated into the production.

Well, one of the noticeable differences during last night’s Alagna-less production was a modification in footwear. Replacement tenor for Radames, Signore Fraccaro, appeared throughout the Zeffirelli scenes sans platform sandals that had been favored by Alagna.

I guess he was all like, "Ok, I won at Aida, so I’m calling the shots here: The “FRAC-STER” doesn’t do platforms.

Alright, Opera Chic is off early tomorrow morning for a little excursion to tour Verdi/Bergonzi-countryside, and then over to Teatro Regio di Parma to hear Maestro Esa-Pekka Salonen conduct Haydn, Schönberg, and Mussorgsky.

Opera Chic: Has Maestro Alagna gone to Rome to meet Maestro Zeffirelli as he announced last night in front of Teatro alla Scala?

Avvocato Rocchini: Yes, he left Milan this morning but he will be back very soon. Because on Sunday he has been booked for a long, in-depth interview on a nationally syndicated afternoon television talk-show. He will then be able to explain his reasons. In the meantime, our team is putting the last touches on our legal motion against La Scala, and general manager Stéphane Lissner that will be filed soon.

Opera Chic: Possibly even next week?

Avvocato Rocchini: The lawsuit that Maestro Alagna has decided upon is a complicated one. It has not been filed yet, because we are still gathering more information, and there is also the matter of the medical note and the reimbursement for Maestro Alagna’s expenses incurred since last month and the immense damage to his professional reputation.

Opera Chic: Can you tell us more about Maestro Alagna’s movement over the weekend?

Avvocato Rocchini: He may be off to Paris tomorrow (Saturday), but he will certainly return to Milan for his Sunday afternoon TV commitment that has already been booked.

Opera Chic: What will Maestro Alagna be talking about in his TV appearance?

Avvocato Rocchini (smiling): You just watch…

Opera Chic also hears (Avvocato Rocchini would not confirm that on the record) that Maestro Alagna will sing at least one aria from his Aida part.

[Alagna said,] “I was fine when I started, but this problem with my metabolism, if I am very emotional or stressed, my system consumes sugars very quickly,” Alagna said by telephone from the airport in Milan on Friday. “After that happened to me, the sugars went down dramatically. I couldn’t stay on my feet, I had to sit. I didn’t have the strength.”

"A spokesman for the opera house said Alagna never mentioned feeling unwell after leaving the stage and hasn’t turned over any medical certificate to La Scala management."

“'If a singer is sick, he goes off stage, tells the musical director and a doctor verifies the condition, we inform the audience and the understudy goes on stage,' said (Scala spokesman -- ed) Carlo Maria Cella."

"But Alagna mentioned no illness to general manager Stephane Lissner or to the musical director, who approached the tenor and urged him to resume the performance, Cella said. Alagna’s personal physician was present, and no one requested a consultation with the opera house’s doctor, he added."

"La Scala doesn’t plan to sue Alagna for any damage to the 'Aida' production, Cella said, but noted it was uncertain whether plans to release a DVD of the production would have to be shelved because of his absence."